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Obama Challenges Clinton’s ‘Textbook’

Updated, with audio
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Barack Obama just unleashed a corker of a speech that had students here at Converse College on their feet and cheering. He painted a bold new picture of a world in which he were president and that brought wild applause.

He also made several references to Hillary Clinton. He said she’s “a colleague and a friend, she’s a skilled politician and she’s run so far what Washington would call a textbook campaign.”

But, he added, “The problem I have, and the disagreement we have, is with the textbook itself.”

He said that the textbook — not Mrs. Clinton, but the textbook — “says very little to nothing about how to bring the country together to solve problems. As we saw in the debate last week, it encourages vague, calculated answers to suit the politics of the moment, instead of clear, consistent principles about how you would lead America.”

He said that Mrs. Clinton was not the only one in Washington to play this game and that he understood the reason it is played. “Part of it is designed to narrow the target for the Republicans when you get to the general election,” he said, and it “usually gets politicians where they need to go.” But, he said, “I don’t believe it gets America where we need to go.”

The speech was striking for its number of specific promises. Mr. Obama said he would: end the war in Iraq, bringing the troops home within 16 months; “finish the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan”: sign into law by the end of his first term a “universal health care bill” that allows everyone to get the same kind of health care that members of Congress get and cuts every family’s premiums by up to $2,500; increase teacher pay; raise fuel standards (he didn’t say by how much), and put a cap on carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases by 80 percent by the year 2050.

He also said he would “tell” polluters that they had to pay for their pollution (not make them), then made this unusual assertion: “because they don’t own the skies _ the American people own the skies.”

Most Democratic candidates promote themselves extravagantly to labor, but in some of his promises today, Mr. Obama hinted that he might be hearing the footsteps of John Edwards, who has garnered some important union endorsements.

He promised to “end the tax giveaways to companies that ship our jobs overseas,” raise the minimum wage not every 10 years but “every single year,” and if “American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain, when I’m in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, and I’ll walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America.”

His oft-stated opposition to the war brought him huge applause as he wrapped it into not-so-veiled references to Mrs. Clinton. “When I’m your nominee,” he said, “my opponent won’t be able to say that I was for the war in Iraq before I was against it; they won’t be able to say that I supported an extension of the Iraq war into Iran; they won’t be able to say that I support Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to leaders we don’t like.”

One of his most passionate passages was not in the prepared text. He promised to close down Guantanamo “because we’re not a nation that locks people up without charging them. We will restore habeas corpus. We are not a nation that undermines our civil liberties. We are not a nation that wiretaps without warrants.”

Haven’t we had enough of “your either with us or against us” “clear consistent principles”? We need clear consistent pragmatic competent leadership after these years of self-serving incompetence, and that’s why so many Democrats are standing by their woman. Even if Obama could get elected this cycle, the Republicans would chew him up, spit him out, and oust him in just four years. Once in office, with her combination of competence and strength, Mrs. Clinton will stay for eight years. Obama blew it once and for all this week by suggesting he would talk to Iran unconditionally. We were talking to them in 2000, and progress was being made, but then Bush came in, called them “axis of evil”, pointed a gun at their head and said: “this is what you must do.” Mrs. Clinton will keep the gun pointed at their head, but say: “now, do you want to talk?” Most American’s do not want to take the gun away from their head and just say: “wanna talk?”

Give us a break, Barack. The only thing “un-textbook” about your campaign is that you go to greater lengths to pretend to be different. You criticized the war as politically motivated, then you backed away from that assertion to appease potential Republicans supporters. You have called for the return of our troops and an end to this war, but then you vote to fund it. You say that you want a “politics of hope” but then you launch personal attacks on other candidates and call names (Republican-lite). You say you refuse special interest money, but then you accept it through less obvious channels. You claim to have our best interests at heart, but then you miss 80 percent of your Senate votes over the last two months. I thought you were something, but you’ve turned out to be just a suit and a good speech. You are as much the “textbook” as any other politician.

The textbook ? An undisguised put down ! Do speak at events extemporaneously, Obama ?

I guess it is OK to go negative on Hillary – you and Edwards NEED TO DO SOMETHING – but be fair. Describe to us then what it is you intend to do that is more effective or, avoid criticisms in general terms, i.e., how is it vague, why is it important, etc.

Please, all Obama supporters, urge Obama first to improve his senate voting records and urge him to vote on issues, then let him claim what he stands for on the issues. He has highest non voting record in the senate but yet he claims ownership for the issues he never voted for or was not the senator at the time (like the one on Iran). Before you dig more dirt on other candidates, please clean up the mess or his poor voting record. Then onnly he is qualified to argue againts other candidates. Again Please, Obama first vote, take ownership and then argue or debate.

This is what so many of us love about Obama: He’s not a great speaker because he can talk loud or he had beautiful prose. That has nothing to do with it all. No, the real reason Obama is an amazing speaker is because he listens. He listens to the people who disagree with him. He listens to people’s concerns about him. He listens to what differing groups of people say they want and he tries to find common ground on which to work.

And after he listens, he sharpens what he says. And the more he sharpens what he says, the more what he says make a heck of a lot more sense than any of the other candidates. He draws upon the best in people, rather than the worst. He’ll answer any question posed to him–any question, and he’ll give an honest answer. He’s nuanced, but clear and never condescending. He’s honest–he doesn’t pander or spin or give anything other than plain truth.

If you read Obama’s “Audacity of Hope,” you’ll see that this is exactly how his campaign for his Illinois Senate seat took shape. Stay calm for several months and build name recognition, then in the final months, go all out and clobber his opponents with truth, vision, and a clear and hopeful message. This is how a campaign should be run. The cynicism of the past two decades (Bush/Clinton dynasties) will become part of the history books. The Bushes and Clintons may have been master tacticians of electoral strategy, but now America is ready for a real leader: President Barack Obama.

What the NYT fails to realize is that Obama has been delivering “a corker of a speech” everywhere he goes. Come January, February, the NYT and other MSM outlets will be floored, it appears, when Obama wins the Democratic nomination. And then, the White House.

What a powerful country we could be if all of us, who sense in our gut how the textbook needs updating, had access to better information. Give us the information, and we will know what to demand from our leaders and what to give to our leaders. Americans are stronger and wiser than most politicians give us credit for.

Now that we’re all ‘geared-up’ with computers and such, it’s probably a good time to upgrade the entire election process, so the only things that would have to be wheel-chair accessible would be your computer or your telephone.

And if you didn’t have a phone or computer, I’m sure if you wrote all the candidates with a request. . .

Anyway, everybody who had a home , or even one of those homeless-shelter-mailing-addresses, could be part of our wonderful system.

Instead of constanly listening or viewing speeches candidates make on very costly commercials, that they constanly have to finance through psychologically costly pandering to corporations, and the other special interest groups, that the sane portion of the public realizes have as much import as Ronald Reagan speaking for The-Twenty-Mule-Team of the Borax people, the people could become electronically or electrifyingly involved by voting from home.

But that would be the last step.

The campaign would be the Big Deal. Instead of the usual candidate blah-blah-blah the people could ask the candidate questions via email, and refuse to vote for any candidate who refuses to reply. Or you could call-in and leave a message question.

All these questions from the voters could actually help the candidates ‘frame-the-issues’ important to the country, as perceived by the public.

It would make clear that while some Americans are for endless war, there are more who are against constant torture or outsourcing of any kind.

And while there is a certain segment of people, who think banning imports or exports, just because they contain tainted, toxic or lethal ingredients, is just another unwarrented case of hamstringing free-trade in action, there is a greater portion of the people who think that poor children should receive adequate and safe medical coverage, even if it means the fees are paid from tax dollars.

I’m sorry to go on like this, but they let me out of my ‘supported environment’ every Saturday, and the local library has a free computer.

I am not running for this office to fulfill any long-held plans or because I believe it is somehow owed to me. I never expected to be here, and I always knew the journey would be improbable. I’ve never been on one that wasn’t.

I am running because of what Dr. King called “the fierce urgency of now.” I am running because I do believe there’s such a thing as being too late. And that hour is almost here.

I’m running because I don’t want to wake up one morning four years from now, and turn on one of those cable talk shows, and see that Washington is still stuck in the same food fight it’s been in for over a decade. I don’t want to see that more Americans lost their health care and fell into bankruptcy because we let the insurance industry spend millions to stop us for yet another year. I don’t want to see that.

I don’t want to see that the oceans rose another few inches and the planet has reached the point of no return because we couldn’t find a way to stop ourselves from buying oil from dictators. I don’t want to see that.

I don’t want to see that we risked more American lives in another misguided war because no one had the judgment to ask the tough questions before we sent our troops to fight. I don’t want to see that.

I don’t want to see homeless veterans on the street. I don’t want to send another generation of children through corridors of shame. I don’t want this future for my daughters and I do not accept this future for America. It is time to turn the page.

I run for the presidency for the same reason I drove halfway across the country over two decades ago to bring jobs to the jobless and hope to the hopeless on the streets of Chicago; for the same reason I stood up for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason I’ve fought for Illinois families for over a decade. Because I will never forget that the only reason I am standing here today is because someone, somewhere stood up when it wasn’t popular, when it was risky; when it was hard. And because that someone stood up, a few more did. And then a few thousand. And then a few million. And together, they changed the world. That’s why I run in this election.

I run to give my children and their children the same chances that someone, somewhere gave me. I run so that a year from today, there is a chance that the world will look at America differently, and that America will look at itself differently. And I run to keep the promise of the United States of America alive for all those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for equality and long to believe again.

That is the change that’s possible in this election. That is the moment I want to seize as President. And I ask you all to join me in this journey. Thank you.

Barack Obama is brilliant. He says he will run a campaign with “politics of hope”, he immediately flip-flops and starts attacking left right and center. He says he will end the war, but says he will send troops back into the country if a civil war breaks out. he says he will talk to iran without preconditions, but doesnt say how he will deal if mullahs stick to their ground. he lies iraq shiite radical movement is encouraged by iran because america has invaded iraq, infact he has very poor view of history. iran has been supporting sciri and sadr movements long before even the first gulf war. and on top of it all, he says he will bomb pakistan, thereby starting a nuclear war and now thats the best, because world is yet to see how a billion people will be anhiliated because some moron though, he needed to be a hawk with respect to defense issues. he accuses clinton of playing of gender card (which she clarified was not intention of the ad), and yet he goes to south carolina and invokes his race for them to vote for him. now what a straight talker and honest politician. brilliant!

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